UK VPN for the BBC iPlayer

A couple of years ago when all you needed was a simple proxy server to access things like the BBC, ITV and Sky Go from abroad,  it was easy to find a few free ones to use.   Unfortunately now even a UK web proxy server is pretty much useless when it comes to hiding your IP address.  All the media sites can now detect proxies automatically even those from a UK ip address range will get blocked, just like this :

Just like Netflix, now all the UK TV stations can detect proxies and block them automatically.   So forget these, you need to get a UK vpn for this to work. Fortunately a VPN (Virtual Private Network), cannot be detected automatically and continue to allow access to all the major media sites across the web.   The problem is that people still think they can get these for free, I get lots of messages asking for my UK VPN online details for people to use.

The reality is that there aren’t any free VPNs available online, which is not really surprising.  After all these are private networks, and even a single VPN server costs a great deal to run, you need to buy the hardware, configure, host and then pay for ongoing bandwidth charges.  Why would anyone pay all that money out simply to allow complete strangers to watch Eastenders from a Spanish villa free of charge?   What’s more the commercial value of these are growing too, people use VPNs for torrenting, security, Netflix and thousands of region locked sites.  Of course they won’t –

Creating and Running a Virtual Private Network in the UK Costs Money. 

So save yourself some grief and stop looking to find free UK VPN details online, you won’t find them.   In the unlikely event one does spring up you can guarantee it’s there for a more sinister purpose infecting your computer with ransomware perhaps or just stealing your user credentials while you happily enjoy the free VPN access!  Instead be glad, the competition has driven down the price and you can get hold of a fast British virtual private network for a very reasonable price, some even run brief free trials if you search.

In case you’re wondering why there where so many free proxies around, well the answer is simple.  It’s very easy to install and configure an ordinary proxy server, in fact many windows applications installed proxies automatically to allow access. This meant that there are thousands of misconfigured and accidently open proxies all over the internet even many from a Uk ip address list.  Some are just left to be used and abused until someone notices, others become haunts for criminal gangs and hackers who take them over.  They are often enough to give you a British IP address however there not much use anymore as they always get blocked.

A VPN through UK requires a lot more to set up and configure properly, so it doesn’t happen accidentally.  Most of the world’s VPN servers and used for large corporations to transfer data and for remote access, they are extremely secure in general and not available for free.  In fact be very wary of any company which offers a fast free UK VPN, they will be financing somehow – either through installing adware while you use it or more criminal options.

The good news is that paying for a UK VPN service to use, is actually a very good deal.  Take for example my favorite one – IDC , it’s only  a few Euros a month and offers loads of options including easy to use software to connect.   I use it most days when travelling to enable me to access things like online banking, web mail and other secure sites while using insecure Wifi.  There are also servers across the world which means you can login in to TV media sites in places like the US, Canada and all over Europe too.

Of course, my main use alongside thousands of UK expats is to watch UK TV so I normally use one of the British VPN servers all of them are extremely fast so you can watch without buffering and delays.    Free would be better of course, but as monthly subscriptions go I think I get an awful lot of value from my UK VPN subscription.

Try out the Identity Cloaker 10 Day trial and see how easy it is.